Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Tuesday Nights in 1980, Molly Prentiss

Tuesday Nights in 1980s was very different kind of story for me, it felt kind of edgy. It's a story about the SoHo art scene from 12/31/79 through the end of 1980.

James Bennett is an unusual art critic with synesthesia, a condition that allows him to see, hear, smell and feel the world in an usual way. Raul Engages is an orphaned, Argentinian exile whose art is on the verge of being discovered. Lucy Ollison is their muse, a high school girl from Idaho who escapes to New York looking for something more than Idaho has to offer.

The story shifts in POV between the characters who have come to the New York art scene to escape their past, each having experienced loss of some kind. Each character is flawed, selfish and not very likable yet their story felt real. The author did a great job making these disconnected characters come together. I thought the writing was very good but, very different At times I found this book a bit challenging yet, I loved the reading about the NY art scene before gentrification.

Readers looking for something different should try this debut. The writing and character development was well done.

I'd like to get to this one before the year is out, but I don't know if I'll be able to. Your review is only the second I've read, and both of you enjoyed it. I didn't realize it had an edge to it. I think I'd like that about it.

I also thought it was a very different kind of story. There were some bits that I felt were very well done and others that I thought were a little underdone but, months after reading it, elements have stayed with me, which is always a good sign.

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